Federal Communications Law
Journal
Volume 55 | Issue 3
Article 22
5-2003
A Diversity of Voices in a “Vast Wasteland”
Condace L. Pressley
WSB-AM
Follow this and additional works at: http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/fclj
Part of the Communications Law Commons
Recommended Citation
Pressley, Condace L. (2003) "A Diversity of Voices in a “Vast Wasteland”," Federal Communications Law Journal: Vol. 55: Iss. 3, Article
22.
Available at: http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/fclj/vol55/iss3/22
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School
Journals at Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. It has been accepted for
inclusion in Federal Communications Law Journal by an authorized
administrator of Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. For more information,
please contact [email protected].
PRESSLEY-FINAL
4/21/2003 4:29 PM
A Diversity of Voices
in a “Vast Wasteland”
Condace L. Pressley*
I believe Newton N. Minow had a crystal ball.
In 1961, in his first speech as Chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission (“FCC”), he challenged members of the
National Association of Broadcasters to:
[S]it down in front of your television set when your station goes on the
air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-andloss sheet or rating book to distract you—and keep your eyes glued to
that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will
observe a vast wasteland.1
Imagine if Minow sat in his living room today, remote control in
hand, with a cable or satellite signal being fed into his television set. He
would find his “vast wasteland” more of an understatement than the
prophecy it seemed to be.
Minow spoke of a “procession of game shows, violence, audience
participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families,
blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western badmen,
Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons.
And, endlessly, commercials—many screaming, cajoling and offending.”2
Did he know there would be a television channel devoted to game shows?
Could he see Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, and Jenny Jones in television’s
future? Was he anticipating “Must See TV” where Friends replaced
families, where children would rule the roost? Was he predicting the degree
* President, National Association of Black Journalists; Assistant Program Director, WSBAM, Atlanta, Ga.
1. Newton N. Minow, Television and the Public Interest, Speech Before the National
Association of Broadcasters (May 9, 1961).
2. Id.
565
PRESSLEY-FINAL
566
4/21/2003 4:29 PM
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 55
of crime and violence that would enter the family home not only during
prime time, but also during the evening news? “Vast wasteland”? An
understatement indeed.
And yet, television also provides programming that is educational and
entertaining. Consider the children’s programming on PBS, or programs
such as Nova and The American Experience. Oprah thrives in syndication
and is educational and entertaining. Television offers viewers The History
Channel, the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and valuable
programming on the Food Network and Home & Garden Television.
Programming from these sources serves a purpose and provides valuable
information to the viewer.
For all that is wrong with television in the twenty-first century, much
is right. Minow suggested television breeds boredom. If that were the case,
why do cable and satellite beam hundreds of channels into American
homes? These hundreds of channels also bring hundreds of choices for
viewers. These hundreds of channels bring a diversity of voices to the
cacophony of ideas for viewers to consider. Diversity in television is a
good thing.
There was a time when news and information was broadcast into my
home only between 6:00 and 7:00 P.M. At 6:00 P.M. there was a half-hour
of local news. One half-hour later, a network news anchor summarized the
so-called news of the day. That was the extent of information broadcast
into my home. The last decades of the twentieth century brought the 24hour news cycle with CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and the FOX News Channel,
among other news and information providers ready with information on my
schedule, not theirs. Where before, the evening news was limited to only
twenty-two minutes, now the news consumer can receive as much or as
little news and information as he or she wants.
The diversity of voices that exists today in television also reflects the
diversity of the American experience. Would Newton Minow have found
fault with Roots, the 1977 landmark television miniseries loosely based on
Alex Haley’s autobiography of the same name? The program garnered one
of the largest audiences for dramatic television in the history of the medium
with a 44.9 rating and a 66 share.3 The program exposed white viewers to
black history.
With the choice that exists today in television comes opportunity. The
growing number of channels and programs, whether good or bad, creates a
wealth of job opportunities for men and women seeking careers in the
3. Rauhl D. Tovares, Alex Haley, in THE MUSEUM OF BROADCAST COMMUNICATIONS
ARCHIVES, available at http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/H/htmlH/haleyalex/haleyalex.
htm (last visited Mar. 14, 2003).
PRESSLEY-FINAL
Number 3]
4/21/2003 4:29 PM
A DIVERSITY OF VOICES
567
medium. The consolidation of media ownership now endorsed by the FCC,
however, threatens to limit opportunity to employment in this industry.
This is an instance where the industry must show initiative and do what is
in the public interest.
Does television cater to the lowest common denominator of its
viewers? As Minow might have said in 1961, “yes and no.” Television
teaches. Programs such as Cable in the Classroom use the medium to
educate a new generation of viewers. Television also makes our global
community smaller. For one generation the question was: “Where were you
when President Kennedy was assassinated?” For another generation the
question was: “Where did you see the Challenger tragedy?” Still more of us
continue to grieve over the television images of September 11, 2001, when
terrorists turned airplanes into bombs and crashed into the World Trade
Center towers. We watched in horror as lives were lost when the buildings
collapsed into tons of rubble and dust.
For as much as there is junk on television today, there are also images
of immense value to our community and to our culture. Where we once
observed the governance of our nation through the eyes of a select few
newspaper reporters, today we watch government in action on C-SPAN.
Via satellite, journalists provide instantaneous coverage of government.
World leaders often establish foreign policy based on the images they see
on CNN. CNN brought the world the first images of the Persian Gulf War.
Viewers saw images much different than those broadcast into American
homes during the Vietnam War. Yet, in each instance, television amplified
the message and brought greater understanding.
Newton Minow was accurate in the fault he found with television of
his era. But it is easy to find fault. It is more difficult to find the good. Is
television the “vast wasteland” that Minow described? In many cases the
answer is yes, and it will always be that way. But for every disappointment
we may find on television today, there are many other examples of
programming that is good for our society. Whether it is news and
information, music, children’s programming, or prime-time entertainment,
television will always be thought-provoking—challenging the viewer in
some way to make a difference, or at the very least, to change the channel.
PRESSLEY-FINAL
568
4/21/2003 4:29 PM
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 55